Platform Support: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, WASM

ArmorPaint targets six platforms through a thin hardware abstraction layer in the iron engine. Each platform maps to a specific graphics API backend and a corresponding set of system and compiler requirements. Platform-specific source files, libraries, and defines are selected at build time via project.js conditionals, so only the code relevant to the target platform is compiled into the final binary.

Platform Summary

Platform	Graphics API	Compiler / IDE	Architecture
Windows	Direct3D 12	Visual Studio + Clang	x64
Linux	Vulkan	Clang	x64
macOS	Metal	Xcode	arm64
iOS	Metal	Xcode	arm64
Android	Vulkan	Android Studio	arm64
WASM	WebGPU	Clang / Emscripten	wasm32

Per-Platform Details

Graphics API: Direct3D 12Backend source files:

sources/backends/windows_system.* — Win32 window and input management
sources/backends/windows_net.* — Windows networking (Winhttp)
sources/backends/windows_thread.* — Windows threading primitives
sources/backends/direct3d12_gpu.* — Direct3D 12 GPU backend

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_DIRECT3D12
_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS
_WINSOCK_DEPRECATED_NO_WARNINGS
IRON_BGRA (pixel format)

Required libraries:

dxguid, dxgi, d3d12 — Direct3D 12 runtime
Dwmapi — Dark mode title bar (DWMWA_USE_IMMERSIVE_DARK_MODE)
Winhttp — HTTP networking

Optional libraries (flag-gated):

dsound + windows_audio.* — audio (with_audio)
dinput8 — gamepad input (with_gamepad)
d3d11 + d3dcompiler — runtime shader compilation (with_d3dcompiler)

Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
..\base\make
# Open build\ArmorPaint.sln in Visual Studio, then Build and Run

Graphics API: VulkanBackend source files:

sources/backends/linux_system.* — X11 window and input management
sources/backends/posix_net.* — POSIX networking
sources/backends/posix_thread.* — POSIX threading
sources/backends/vulkan_gpu.* — Vulkan GPU backend

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_VULKAN
IRON_BGRA (pixel format)
_POSIX_C_SOURCE=200809L

Required libraries:

vulkan — Vulkan loader
X11, Xi, Xcursor, Xrandr — X11 input and display
ssl, crypto — TLS (OpenSSL)

Optional libraries (flag-gated):

asound + linux_audio.* — audio (with_audio)
udev — gamepad input (with_gamepad)

Dependency installation:For Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install make clang libvulkan-dev libgtk-3-dev libssl-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev libxcursor-dev

For Arch-based distributions:

sudo pacman -S make clang vulkan-devel gtk3 openssl libxi libxrandr libxcursor

Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
../base/make --run

Graphics API: MetalBackend source files:

sources/backends/macos_system.* — Cocoa window and input management (Objective-C)
sources/backends/macos_audio.c — CoreAudio backend
sources/backends/apple_net.m — Apple networking
sources/backends/apple_thread.* — GCD threading
sources/backends/metal_gpu.* — Metal GPU backend (Objective-C)
sources/backends/data/mac.plist — macOS application plist

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_METAL
IRON_BGRA (pixel format)

Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
../base/make
# Open build/ArmorPaint.xcodeproj in Xcode, then Build and Run

macOS support targets arm64 (Apple Silicon) only. The Metal GPU backend is implemented in Objective-C (.m files).

Graphics API: MetalBackend source files:

sources/backends/ios_system.* — UIKit window and lifecycle management (Objective-C)
sources/backends/ios_audio.m — CoreAudio backend
sources/backends/apple_net.m — Apple networking
sources/backends/apple_thread.* — GCD threading
sources/backends/metal_gpu.* — Metal GPU backend
sources/backends/ios_file_dialog.m — iOS file picker
sources/backends/data/ios.plist — iOS application plist

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_METAL
IRON_BGRA (pixel format)

Version info: The target_options.ios.build and target_options.ios.version fields are set automatically from get_version_code() (YYMMDD format).Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
../base/make --target ios
# Open build/ArmorPaint.xcodeproj in Xcode and build for device

Graphics API: VulkanBackend source files:

sources/backends/android_system.* — Android NativeActivity lifecycle
sources/backends/android_native_app_glue.* — NDK app glue layer
sources/backends/posix_thread.* — POSIX threading
sources/backends/vulkan_gpu.* — Vulkan GPU backend
sources/backends/android_file_dialog.c — Android file picker
sources/backends/android_net.c — Android networking

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_ANDROID
IRON_VULKAN
VK_USE_PLATFORM_ANDROID_KHR

Required libraries:

vulkan, log, android

Optional libraries (flag-gated):

OpenSLES — audio (with_audio)

Package metadata (set from project.js):

package: org.armorpaint
permissions: android.permission.INTERNET
versionCode: auto-generated YYMMDD integer

Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
../base/make --target android
# Open build/ArmorPaint in Android Studio and build for device

Graphics API: WebGPUBackend source files:

sources/backends/wasm_system.* — WebAssembly system layer
sources/backends/wasm_thread.* — WASM threading
sources/backends/webgpu_gpu.* — WebGPU GPU backend
sources/miniclib/** — minimal C standard library for WASM

Preprocessor defines:

IRON_WASM
IRON_WEBGPU
NO_GC (garbage collector disabled)

Additional assets: sources/backends/data/wasm/* (JS glue, HTML shell)Build command:

cd armorpaint/paint
../base/make --target wasm --compile --embed

The --embed flag is required for WASM builds to bundle all data files into the binary. This requires Clang 19 or newer for C23 #embed support. Several features (NFD, plugins, raytrace) are automatically disabled for WASM.

Graphics API Backend Files

The three GPU backends are selected at compile time based on the active graphics API define:

Define	Backend File	Language	Platforms
`IRON_DIRECT3D12`	`direct3d12_gpu.c`	C	Windows
`IRON_VULKAN`	`vulkan_gpu.c`	C	Linux, Android
`IRON_METAL`	`metal_gpu.m`	Objective-C	macOS, iOS
`IRON_WEBGPU`	`webgpu_gpu.c`	C	WASM

CI Workflows

ArmorPaint uses three GitHub Actions workflows to validate builds on push and pull request to main:

linux_vulkan.yml

Runs on ubuntu-latest. Installs make clang libvulkan-dev libgtk-3-dev via apt, then compiles with ../base/make --compile.

macos_metal.yml

Runs on macOS-latest. Uses the pre-installed Xcode toolchain. Compiles with ../base/make --compile.

windows_direct3d12.yml

Runs on windows-latest. Uses the pre-installed Visual Studio + Clang toolchain. Compiles with ../base/make --compile.

macOS builds target arm64 (Apple Silicon) exclusively. The Metal GPU backend (metal_gpu.m) is written in Objective-C and requires Xcode to compile. Intel-based Mac builds are not supported.

Build System

Plugin API

Architecture

Platform Support: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, WASM

Platform Summary

Per-Platform Details

Graphics API Backend Files

CI Workflows

linux_vulkan.yml

macos_metal.yml

windows_direct3d12.yml

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Build System

Plugin API

Architecture

Documentation Index

​Platform Summary

​Per-Platform Details

​Graphics API Backend Files

​CI Workflows

linux_vulkan.yml

macos_metal.yml

windows_direct3d12.yml

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Platform Summary

Per-Platform Details

Graphics API Backend Files

CI Workflows